|
|
|
|
"Very limited controlled evidence suggests cannabinoids can modify the symptoms of individual patients with spasticity (ie. MS patients)." American Medical Association, Report of the Council on Scientific Affairs, 10-I-97, Conclusions Aside from the conclusions section, this report addresses the use of marijuana and dronabinol in treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, Spasticity, and Extrapyramidal Movement Disorders on pages 13, 14 and 17. (Report of the Council on Scientific Affairs) "Evidence that marijuana relieves spasticity produced by multiple sclerosis (MS) and partial spinal cord injury is largely anecdotal. Large-scale trials or controlled studies to compare marijuana or THC with currently available therapies have not been performed. There is no published evidence that cannabinoids are superior or equivalent to available therapies." National Institute of Health Report, page 3A two-day scientific meeting "Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana" was held on February 19-20, 1997 to "review the scientific data concerning the potential therapeutic uses for marijuana and the need for and feasibility of additional research." The report from this workshop addresses the use of marijuana and dronabinol in treating "neurological and movement disorders on pages 3, 18, and 19. National Institute of Health Report
"Smoked marijuana or oral THC administrations for Parkinson’s disease or Huntington’s chorea have not been effective." (Executive Summary, National Institute of Health Report, page 3) "Scant information is available about the human experience with the use of marijuana or cannabinoids for the treatment of epilepsy. (National Institute of Health Report, page 18 and 19) "...cannabinoids may be of value in a more fundamental way by altering the root cause of a disease such as MS rather than simply treating its symptoms. Smoked marijuana would not be acceptable for such a role because of the variability of dose with the smoked route. (National Institute of Health Report, page 19) "If you’re using it to treat spasticity for somebody who has muscle disease, it relaxes the muscle a little bit but not enough to make it stand out among other drugs easier to use, (and it causes) sensory and memory disturbances." (Reese T. Jones(researcher)Is marijuana good medicine? Scientists say uses may be limited, USA Today, January 3, 1997) "In 1989, the Journal of Neurology published an account of a young man with multiple sclerosis who was wheelchair-bound with ataxia and spasticity, but who, on smoking a marijuana cigarette, was able to walk a few metres with support. The International Multiple Sclerosis Society has responded cautiously to such reports, stating in 1990 that there was no conclusive proof for the use of marijuana in multiple sclerosis and demanding evidence from properly controlled trials. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Australia has endorsed this position. It is argued that the effect of marijuana in such cases may be related more to its sedative, anxiolytic or analgesic effects than any specific central effect. This was the conclusion of researchers who conducted a small study on the effect of marijuana on tremor in Parkinson’s disease, reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry in 1990. The trial was prompted by anecdotal evidence of benefit, but none of the patients studied showed any improvement in their tremor after smoking marijuana." (Marijuana as medicine, Medical Journal of Australia, April 6, 1992.) "In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose escalation crossover trial involving 13 patients, oral doses of THC > 7.5 were required for most patients to rate their spasticity as improved over a 24-hour period. 9 of these patients had previously used marijuana to treat their symptoms. Physician ratings of motor function, however, did not detect any significant differences between placebo and oral THC 7.5. ...Findings on the standard clinical neurologic examination were unaffected. (Report of the Council on Scientific Affairs, AMA, Report 10-I-97, page 14) |
|
